Memories
by FaithinBones
Summary: This is a Memorial Day story. Booth and Hank visit some friends at Arlington National Cemetery. No angst


This is for Penny. I hope you like it. This story takes place after "The Past in the Present".

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Booth was at loose ends. His days were running together and his life was turned upside down; but, he had family obligations. He always had family obligations. Memorial Day had come and he had to pick up Hank and drive him out to Arlington National Cemetery. Every year, without fail, Booth and Hank drove out to the Cemetery to visit one of Hank friends. James Rawlings had served with Hank during World War II in France and Germany. Pops and James had been military police; but, that didn't keep them safe. Everyone found that out during the Battle of the Bulge. James and Hank had been guarding a crossroads, looking out for Germans trying to infiltrate the ranks with leaky papers when James had been killed and Hank had been hurt. Hank hated to talk about the sad side of his tour of duty. Hank loved to tell tales of misbehavior and scandal; but, not about the horrors of war. That's just the way he was and in a way, Booth too.

Every Memorial Day, Booth and Hank would pack a small cooler, drive out to Arlington and sit and visit James for a few hours. James had been an orphan; so, he didn't have any family to speak of. Hank figured that if he didn't go see James then no one would.

Arriving at the cemetery, Booth and Hank made their way over to James' grave. Booth carried their cooler and a lawn chair for Hank. Luckily James' grave was near a tree and Hank could sit in the shade when he got tired of standing and talking to James. While Hank talked to James, Booth wandered around the cemetery and paid short visits with some of his own friends. He told them what was going on in his life. Everything that was going on his life. He always felt a little better talking to his friends. They were good listeners and nonjudgmental. He needed that in his life, now more than ever.

Booth had been talking to Teddy Parker when he noticed his grandfather waving at him. Walking over to where Hank was standing, Booth heard his grandfather say, "Hey Shrimp. Break out the sandwiches and Cokes and let's do this thing."

Smiling, Booth walked over to the tree, opened his cooler and took out two peanut butter sandwiches and two cokes and carried them over to Hank. Handing one of the sandwiches and one of the Cokes over to Hank, Booth said, "I made them with grape jelly this year. Didn't you say that James loved them with grape jelly?"

Nodding his head, Hank took his sandwich out of the ziplock bag and took a bite. Smiling, Hank said, "James loved peanut butter sandwiches. He dreamed of them. He always told me that when he got back home he was going to eat nothing but peanut butter sandwiches with grape jelly until he was sick of the sight of them. He was going to drink gallons of Coke until it made him sick. Me, I wanted steak and eggs. I dreamed of them; but, not James. Peanut butter and Coke were his special after school snack his mother made for him every day. When she and his Dad died in a traffic accident, he was raised by his grandmother. That lady hated sandwiches and soda were considered a sin. He rarely got to have them. Once he was on his own, he had those at least five days a week. When he joined the Army and got sent overseas, he found out that he wouldn't be able to get his favorite food and drink as often as he wanted. Sometimes he liked to drove me nuts talking about crunchy peanut butter versus creamy. Coke versus Royal Crown. He obsessed over them. I even begged Mary to mail me a jar of the damn stuff so that I could get some peace and quiet. I guess it got lost in the mail because I never got it. I wish I had though. It would have made James so happy."

Nodding, Booth ate his sandwich and drank his Coke. Looking out over the cemetery, Booth saw some familiar faces. Waving at the mother of one of his friends, Booth looked back at Hank. Knowing the answer to his question, Booth asked, "You were with him the day he died?"

Frowning, Hank said ,"Oh sure, sure. It was a pretty quiet day. We really hadn't seen anyone for a few hours and James was arguing with me about who was going to win the Stanley Cup. He favored Detroit; but, you know me a Flyers fan the whole way. I knew there was something hinky about those bastards when they drove up. For one thing, they were too damn clean. I hadn't had a shower in a few days and here comes these guys in a jeep, scrubbed clean and smelling like cologne. James started asking them questions and thought they were ok. They knew the answers to our questions. We had told them they could go when James tossed out his last question, "Did they ever think Fibber was going to clean out his closet?""

Turning to wave at the brother of Teddy Parker, Booth then looked back at James' tombstone and said, "He surprised them."

Nodding his head, Hank said, "You never saw someone panic so fast as those guys in the jeep. They pulled their guns and started shooting and we shot back. James went down and so did I. I woke up and found James' and my walkie talkies were gone. James was lying a few feet from me; so, I crawled over to him and he was still alive. James looked at me and said, "Hank, promise me that you'll visit me once in awhile and when you do bring peanut butter sandwiches and cokes. Even if I can't taste the damn things then I can at least enjoy watching you do it. I promised him I would.""

Putting his right hand on Hanks left shoulder, Booth said, "And you always keep your promises."

Smiling, Hank held up his coke and said, "You're damn right I do."

Turning to James' tombstone, Hank said, "This coke is for you James. It's cold and it still bites going down. Just the way you liked it."

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Happy Memorial Day to all of our military families. We're thinking of you.

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Reviews would be nice, let me know what you thought of my story. Thanks.

Just in case you don't know who Fibber is, Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio program. The running gag on the show was whenever Fibber opened the closet door a bunch of stuff would fall out. He always said he was going to clean it up someday; but, someday never came.


End file.
